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Hello all, We have managed to do a simple cozy looking, somewhat between nordic+minimalist renovation, nearing 22k. We met with a few contractors and 1 ID, and decided to go ahead with the contractor that a good friend of mine had enagaged. The whole renovations took about 3 months, as some items were out of stock and had to wait for it to be manufactured and shipped in. Here are the work items covered by my contractor: Living Room/ dining area 1. Vinyl flooring ****/dining areas and all bedrooms 2. L-box with cove light holder, including installation of down-lights and cove lights 3. Installation of ceiling fan with led light 4. Installation of pendant lights for dining area 5. Additional switches and relocation of electrical points 6. Painting for the whole house Kitchen 1. Top and bottom cabinets, total of 31ft 2. Kompacplus cabinet top and backsplash 3. Kitchen cabinet kerbs 4. Installation of kitchen accessories, including kitchen sink+tap, hood+hob+oven and an open shelf 5. Additional switch and relocation of electrical points Bathroom 1. Shower kerb for master bathroom 2. Installation of Ikea bathroom accessories for common and master bathrooms 3. Installation of Ikea sink and vanity drawer at master bathroom 4. Installation of down lights and cove lights MBR 1. Full height 6ft casement wardrobe at MBR 2. Installation of wall fan Bedrooms 2 and 3 1. Installation of wall fan 2. Additional switch for wall fan Items that I liased with direct vendors/suppliers 1. Whole house window grills and service yard window 2. Master bathroom glass shower screen 3. Aircon installation 4. Bomb shelter store rack 5. Slide arm for main door Will share more photos and details later on. Cheers!

Hello everyone! We have been silent readers of this community for quite awhile and started stalking t-blogs since more than a year ago - even before applying for our current flat! Bin of the #kingandbin duo has been interested in home decor for the longest time and has been browsing online forums/communities ever since Livejournal days. So you can say that she has been preparing for this even before knowing/meeting King . And yay! Our place is going to start renovations verrryyy soon. Thus we're here to share our experience! Home will be a 4-Room flat in Sengkang, in between the MRT station and our parents' place. It's approximately 6min by foot (or 1 bus stop) to the MRT and also about 6min by foot (or 1 bus stop too) where King currently stays with his parents. Here's the floor plan: It's a SOBF unit and we received the keys in mid February this year. We took our time to meet up with contractors and to think through (mainly Bin, King helps to make final decisions after she narrows options down ) about the works we would like to do for our home. We finally decided on & confirmed our contractor 2 weeks back. Work will commence just before the Lunar 7th Month begins. It's been a rather slow process so far but we are glad to get things started! Hope you join us on this t-blog as #kingandbin embarks on our exciting renovation journey for our first home! // HOME IN PHOTOS [BEFORE & AFTER] LIVING ROOM STUDY ROOM DRESSING ROOM MASTER BEDROOM KITCHEN COMMON BATHROOM MASTER BATHROOM CORRIDOR

Hi Everyone, First of all, I will like to thanks all the t-blogger for giving me ideas and introducing your ID / Contractor and where to shop. Really benefited a lot from you guys. Been waiting for about 6 years to finally get my keys for my project! Now, I can finally blog about my reno journey too~~ weee~~~

Like many others, I have been getting ideas from fellow renotalkers for our home. After 4.5 years of wait, we finally got our keys to our 4-rm BTO! As you can see from the floor plan, our bomb shelter is in the kitchen And these are some pictures of the rest of our "kosong" house as we did not opt for any flooring, doors or sanitary fittings. We did not have any wash basins in the toilets as well. So basically, we only had kitchen floor and wall tiles and a toilet bowl in each toilet! And so because we waited for 4.5 years, upon our collection of keys, we went straight in to roll all the pineapple, sprinkle rice at 4 corners, etc. I am not that superstitious, but the hubby wanted to follow the rules and whatnot so I complied. We did our defect checking on the very same day and I must say that we were lucky to not have that many defects. These were the few things which we spotted: - cracked wall along the entrance to the master toilet - stained / cracked tile (only 1 in the entire house) - hollow "openings" below the windows - scratches on main door and metal parts of windows We submitted the defect list the following day and we were told it would take 14-16 days for rectification to complete. To our surprise, it was all done after 1 week! ID and contractor selection As I was constantly excited about our house, our search for an ID began about 1 year before our key collection as I always heard that the TOP will be a year earlier (in fact, it wasn't). We were rather naive and gullible then and went to meet almost 10 IDs who gave us quotations just with the floor plan. By the way, we relied on q a n v a s t heavily during our search for an ID as we wanted to have a look at their past projects before meeting them. Sky Creation I forgot his name but we went to his office twice to discuss about the things that we wanted. He wasn't very pushy, but he still wanted to talk us into placing a deposit on the 2nd meeting. We wanted to look around so we turned him down politely. Fortunately, we didn't place any deposit as we have heard quite horrendous reviews about them over the 1 year. M3 Studio This lady was very frank (too frank actually). She did suggest some ideas and drew what we articulated quite well on a piece of blank paper. She also suggested quite a few ideas which other IDs did not managed to. It got quite uncomfortable when we told her that we haven't gotten our keys and she went like "I know you definitely won't come back if you leave now. It's ok, it's your choice ultimately." Starry Homestead Again I forgot his name, but he looked very decent (and totally like a salesman more than an ID) and discussed some ideas with us. We were at their office which had a showroom so the discussion went on and it was time to leave. He did not press us to place any deposit and told us to think it over before getting in touch again. However, after turning him down, he contacted the hubby several times and asked "so how?" many times until he finally gave up after 1-2 months? Lux Design We got to know them through q a n v a s t. We liked some of their works shown. I think they are contractors turned IDs because they have their own carpentry factory. Our meet up was always with the two of them because one was an apprentice. We did not take them up as we did not feel comfortable letting an inexperienced apprentice take over the design of our house. Also, most ideas were from us and they just said "ok". Chapter One Design After reading positive reviews about them on renotalk. We had a pleasant meet up with Fadhil. However, somehow Jonathan was roped in and the project became quite "grey" as we did not know exactly who was in charge of designing our home. Fadhil is a very nice guy and his ideas were also in line with ours. He also wasn't pushy and checked back with us even after 6 months! The hubby really wanted to sign with them, but I stopped him because I was so engrossed in reading all the renotalk tblogs and came to know of a few popular contractors. Contractors J & E I texted Edmund on the very day we collected our keys. Perhaps it was my fault to text him at 10.15pm so I did not receive a reply. The next morning, I texted him again with a "hello?" and he finally replied and we met the following week at our "kosong" house. As we communicated our ideas to him, he was constantly busy answering calls. I sort of expected this but still, I appreciate the fact that he was still trying his best to listen to our needs and wants. He jotted down briefly in his notebook and drew some rough drawings in it. The quotation came 3 days later as promised and we were quite disappointed to see that it was on par with an ID quotation. However, the hubby reminded me that at least this was an accurate quotation as compared to IDs who relied on floor plans to quote us. I told him to let me have some time to look through the quote and I'll get back to him next week. It has been 2 weeks and I never got back - and he never did as well. Although we have heard great reviews on their workmanship, the hubby and I were just not comfortable to engage someone who was constantly busy and unable to attend to us. Contractor K from h2o Interior Another renowned contractor is Mr K from renotalk. I texted him on the same morning I texted Edmund "hello?" and he replied almost immediately! I thought that his reply was fast because he was excited that he would be getting another project to work on. However, throughout our 2 weeks of communication, his replies have been quite fast. Even when I was upset about an increase in price in the quotation (also because hubby and I kept changing our ideas), he called me immediately to explain the reasons and that he doesn't mark up prices for no reason. I calmed down and listened (the hubby also talked some sense into me) and everything was back to normal. We changed our quotation a total of 5 times within 2 weeks! Even with so much going on, Mr K never once mentioned about taking any payment from us. Oh yes, he came down to our house twice because we needed to clarify some stuff. It was hard to fix a date to sign the contract as he is also very very busy! Weekends were out so we are going to sign the contract with him the week after next and choose our tiles and laminates for the cabinets and wardrobe on the same day. With no payment collected from us yet, Mr K has passed us 3 forms to fill up (installation of service yard windows, hacking of walls, commencement of reno) which we have since passed it back to him. He has submitted those forms to HDB which means that reno may commence very soon once we select our tiles at Hafary! In my next post, I shall share the things that we have bought thus far from Amazon and local stores as well as Taobao. Oh yes, and my mood board

Hi, All. Just bought 4-room flat (about 90sqm.) We are trying to make our first home as cozy, stylish like a palace. :-) Overall hacking, over-lay and feature walls and indirect lights will be included and 1 entire room will be our dressing room with wardrobes by carpentry work. For our reno work, is it possible to reach more than $80K? just wanna know it can be that expensive..

I need help for second opinion on my quotation. Don't know to go ahead with this because is slightly of my budget but my gut feeling tells me this ID is able to execute what I want base on the past project they did. Quotation for 4-room (92sqm) 1. Erect 2" H Kitchen Cabinet Base with cement plaster on top surface and tiles at the sides (Use spare tiles provided by HDB) : $600 2. Erect 2" H shower kerb at 2 baths (Use spare tiles provided by HDB) : $320 3. Purchase prepacked materials :$850 4. Upload materials and debris removal :$730 5. Supply and lay 60 x 60 cm homogenous tiles ($3/sqf) to living and 3 bedrooms flooring come with skirting: $8400 6. Install bronze alumni clear glass sliding window at yard without top hung (3tracks-3panels) :$700 7. Install 10mm thick clear tempered 1 fixed and 1 swing shower screen at master bath with hinges mounted to wall (wall to wall) :$560 8. Install 10mm thick s/blasted glass swing door at master bath entrance (s/blasted facing outside) standard size: $660 9. Install P/coat alumin acrylic panel PD door at common bath entrance (Selected pattern, standard size): $360 10. Construct Designer kitchen cabinet (Laminate with ABS edging inclusive soft closed hinges and draws with full extension tracks), Top and bottom 2.8m, include 2 tier stainless steel rack and frosted glass panel and cutlery tray. Installation of hood and hob: $3080 11. Fabricate kitchen island without cement base in laminate finish: 1.8m (w) x 0.8m (d) x 0.9m (h): $2000 12. Fabricate quartz worktop for kitchen cabinet and island: $2080 13. Fabricate sliding panel wardrobe at master room in laminate finish. (Come with internal fitting storage system) 2.2m: $2480 14. Fabricate queen size bed frame in laminate finish (1.5m (w) x 0.3m (h)) with storage on one side: $1800 15. Painting Nippon vinilex 5000 matt finish to internal wall and martex white to ceiling. Choice of 5 max colours and multiple trips: $1700 16. Chemical wash (if applicable) and general cleaning: $350 17. Laying protection sheets for affected areas: $300 18. Supply and install 3 veneer (Semi-core) door with round knob: $870 (Top up $40 each door for solid wood) 19. Plumbing (Labour charge only) a. Sink/basin and tap x3 sets : $360 b. Bath accessories x 2 sets : $120 c. Spray gun and mini valve x 2 sets: $120 d. Extension of piping for sink :$60 e. Run exposed pipe after city gas: $360 f. Rainshower at master: $120 20. Electrical work: $1500 base cost (Any additional work will incur top up) 21. Design and space planning fees (Consultation, colour & material proposal, site supervision & coordination, perspective drawing for carpentry works, submission to HDB/BCA) :$1300 Total cost: $31660 (NETT) Confirmation fee: $2000 (Can be deducted out from final amount) + 7%GST Do help me and feel free to comment and advice how do I ask ID to lower the quote. Thank you so much

Hi! We have been on this forum for over 3 years and have learnt a lot thanks to the generous sharing of information and ideas here. Now that our very own first home will be ready soon, it's time to give back. Our home is a 4-room unit in Punggol Emerald that was launched in April 2010 together with Punggol Waves. At the point of writing, some of our future neighbours have already collected their keys and commenced renovation works. Even though our PCD is still stated as 4th Quarter 2013, our block still has quite a bit of work to do and as the title suggests, we are looking at a more realistic moving in date of March to April 2014. In terms of the unit layout, we are really pleased that the kitchen is large by today's 4-room BTO standards as we are looking forward to finally hosting dinners in our home. On the other hand, this means the living room will be smaller but we feel the area distribution is balanced. The only gripe is that due to the way the Main Bedroom and Bedroom 1 are placed, the available options to hack or combine the 2 rooms are limited.

Hi all fellow new home owners! It has been almost 6 months since we settled into our new home in Punggol Topaz and finally had the time to sit down to document/recommend our contacts. Hubby and I have decided that we will not engage any ID as will look for our own individual contractors for each part of the home. We engaged only 2 parties for the entire house cos we have only very basic furnishings and fittings. 1) Electrical works for the entire house Electrical works are very important to start the reno of the house as it determines the positions of all your switches, lightings, ceiling fan, downlights etc. This will then affect the entire planning and layout of your home! Imagine you place a switch in the middle of your tv console...? not tally right.. and if you decide to position your dining table at a certain location but the dining lights are not in line...? Some progress pictures are below. Overall, we have 8 downlights are the main living room, 1 set of dining light, 1 set of industrial light outside the kitchen and 1 along the "corridor" of the rooms. It is bright enough for us. We also requested for switches at each end of the main living hall for convenience sake, one near the main door, toilets and 3 in each room. abit kiasu? Contact: Tony @ 8292 9848 Fast and reliable. We started our discussions with him in late last year and he manage to complete our requirements very quickly. He is also helpful enough to help us install the lightings after the false ceiling is up. Can look for him for quick and reasonable price menu

Like most of us here, we were being introduced to Renotalk T-Blog when we got our own flat. Waited for 3 years, we finally collected our keys.... and stepped into the cement floor of our house. No, it's not a home yet, but it's our house! Yay!! Here's our typical 4-room floorplan. and again, like most of us here, we read up a lot in renotalk, and got to know about Mr K, The Contractor. The Hojichas think it's a waste of money to hire an ID since we have our own designs already.. so we decided to go with Contractors. Back in Mid-November, we collected our keys and quickly made appointment to meet up with Mr K, so excited about it... he was pretty tied-up and busy rushing projects before CNY, so the Hojichas decided to start our reno only after CNY.. Of course, in order to work with Mr K, we took it reallllyyy slow.. some of our neighbours already moved in! In the meantime, we met some others (e.g. The80sStudio, and some other contractors) and received many quotes as well. The strange thing is, the quotes all came back around the same price. How to pick?? So we are stuck.... * fast forward * anyways.... in d end, we signed with Mr K. I still believe if he wants to do things fast, he can be super fast, coz due to permit issued dates pressure 3 walls were hacked within a day, but now we are kinda stuck with the next problem, the electric works! Here comes the lil' story... sorry if it's a bit too lengthy and wordy.. The amount of electric works we required was first quoted to us as $2100. But we find it a bit expensive, and requested to see it in breakdown by points... so he replaced the $2100 with points unit price.. and we signed on that, coz when we calculated on our own, it's below $2100. Then after all the hacking of walls, it's time to work on electricity, so K brought his electrician up to our place to see, and this time, his electrician came back with a $3200 quote. >_< It's only now then we know, shifting concealed switches/points/fan points are separate charges, not in the breakdown K provided us with...... and installation of hanging lights Vs. normal lights have different price tags too! Mr K told me that if we are not ok with this quote, it's ok, we can find our own electrician....... so now we are in the midst of requesting for quotes from other electricians for comparison. Renotalkers, if you have any good recommendations, pls intro to us. Thank you very much. Story to be continued..... wish us good luck!

Hi Everyone. Would like your guys advise on this quote. SERVICE YARD To supply labour & material to construct cement base for Washing Machine. To supply & install 3 Panel powder coated sliding window at service yard.KITCHEN To supply labour & material to construct cement base for Kitchen Cabinet. To fabricate & install Top & Bottom Kitchen cabinet in laminate finish at Wall A – approx. 7ft. To fabricate & install Bottom Kitchen cabinet with Tall Cabinet for Built-In Oven and Microwave at Wall B – approx. 11ft. To fabricate & install quartz surface kitchen worktop with backsplash finish. To extend piping for kitchen sinks and washing machine. To supply labour to install Kitchen Sink, Hob & Hood, Built-In Oven and Microwave.TOILETS To supply labour & materials to install tempered glass shower screen at 2 toilets. To supply labour & materials to install Vanity cabinet for Master Bedroom Toilet. To supply labour & material to install bidet at 2 toilets.MASTER BEDROOM To supply labour & materials to install L-Box with supply of 4 LED Downlights. To fabricate & install built-in sliding wardrobe with 1 side Full height mirror – approx. 6ft. To supply labour & materials to install False Ceiling at MBR Entrance with supply of 1 LED DownlightLIVING/DINING ROOM To supply labour & materials to install L-Box @ living room and Dining Room with supply of 12 LED Downlights. To supply labour & materials to install False Ceiling at Passageway with supply of 3 LED Downlights. To fabricate & install TV feature wall in laminate finish - approx.6ft To fabricate & install suspended TV console with flip-up tinted panel & drawer in laminate finish - approx. 6ft To supply labour & material to install full mirror panel @ living room wall up to ceiling heights – approx. 9ft. To supply labour & material to install shoe rack shelving below Main Switch Board Cupboard.OTHERS/MISCELLENEOUS To supply labour & material to install LED Ceiling Lights at 2 Bedrooms, 2 Toilets, Household Shelter, Service Balcony, Kitchen - Total 7 LED Lights. To supply labour to install toilets accessories, 2 Ceiling Fans and Dining Room Chandelier. To supply labour and relocate power points at Kitchen To supply labour & materials to install Powder Coated Window Grille @ living room and 3 Bedrooms. General Washing and Cleaning of Whole PremisesTotal Renovation Cost: $ 22,800

Hello! After three solid years of lurking, I finally signed up. For easy reference, I'm Pepper and my partner is Tony; nice to meet you. Here's the raw floor plan for Casa Stark: It's a 4-room BTO unit in Sengkang West. You may have heard of the estate in the news at the beginning of the year... I've begun assembling contacts for the job, as well as some really great advice, but any and all recommendations and suggestions are totally welcome. Like another semi-Stark, I know (next to) nothing. I also have a separate blog that I'll be using to document the process and subsequent living, but I noticed that this forum is where people come for the extreme details (e.g. how much each tile costs) so I'll do my best to put that stuff in. All the better to help others! And also get info on whether I'm overspending for certain things. Will update with more images and unnecessary pop culture references as we go along. In the meantime I have several Pinterest boards worth of references and inspiration, please feel free to browse. Cheers, y'all.

Hello!! Like everyone, hubz and I decided to start a T-blog to jot down our ­reno progress, hoping to share some useful information to future homeowners (just like how we learn from bro/sis here!). We had gotten the keys to our first house in late Aug and almost completed with our BSC rectifying process (will talk more about it later). If everything goes as planned, we will be able to start our reno soon in a week time! Here’s our floor plan and will go into more details of our reno in later post. Open Door Day… HUAT AH~!~!

Hi Everyone, I chanced upon Renotalk when I was scouting to buy a flat and since then have been faithfully following the forum. I wasn't in a rush to move in and decided to take my time in looking for a ID/Contractor. Met up with the legendery Mr K and Alan and also contacted a few new start-up ID firms. Being a single female owner, it can be an overwhelming exercise. I was lucky to meet up with my current ID, Foo from Custombox, an earnest young man who is open to ideas and importantly patient with first-time home owners like me. So far the process has been smooth and I'm looking forward to the end result. I had a penchant for mid-century modern design with a bit of scandinavian influence. I love things with a bit of history but didn't want my home to look like a museum:) Right now, design plans are still fluid but with a few key ideas set. Will try to post up floorplan next.